‘That old bastard! I’ll kill him!!’

  Flying as quickly as he could, Dofmingo left Green Bit with his nose busted and his hands empty. To say nothing of punishing Law for his betrayal, he hadn’t even been able to grab his top scientist, Caesar Clown, before having to flee.

  As someone who had struggled for a long time in his youth, setbacks weren’t unknown to Doffy, but it had been many many years since he had tasted the outright sense of defeat.

  It had been many many years since anyone had outright opposed him…

  And for that, more than anything else, he would make those dogs of the World Government pay dearly.

  Thinking of what to do, Zephyr was an old dotard and was not someone Doffy had to take seriously, unfortunately, behind the old dotard, was the blind Marine Admiral Fujitora who lived up to his rank and was a powerhouse even by New World standards.

  Unless there was no other choice, directly fighting Fujitora was ill-advised, so Doffy thought of another method.

  It was a scheme that he thought of quickly, but a scheme that was sure to work and even nd the new Marine Admiral in hot water.

  To start with, for many in the World Government the death of [Rob Lucc was seen as a huge blow, but to Doffy it was an enormous opportunity.

  Because, with the loss of the most loyal and most powerful member of CP0, he had been able to use his influence to install a new member. A powerful person who would never betray him no matter what.

  Understanding this, Doffy prepared a pn.

  Since the memory of the former King had become a burden, and since he himself had sat on the throne for so long already, Dofmingo believed the memory of Doldo wasn’t important to the people of Dressrosa Kingdom.

  Flying to his castle at speed, he began to write a note to himself, a note written by his own strings. A note that he would never question the legitimacy of.

  ‘Attacking the King of an Allied Kingdom is a major offense! One not even an Admiral can walk away from!!

  Fuffuffuffu!!!’

  Using Zephyr’s own line of attack, Doffy decided to turn the entire situation around on those fools.

  With the note written and nding back at his castle, Doffy had a scowl on his face, and rushing to his chambers he grabbed a Snail and yelled into it: “[Diamante]! Grab Riku Doldo and send him to the Toys House…

  Quickly!!”

  *******************************************************************

  “Is that a meteor?” asked a small reindeer humanoid, one of the Straw Hats who had been reguted to the ships ‘Protection Team’.

  Following his gaze, Nami, Brook, and Momonosuke, looked up with their eyes slowly widening as the meteor came straight in their direction.

  “Oh, no! It’s going to hit the ship, Brook do something!!” Screamed Nami, but the skeleton musician himself was panicking and running in circle with Momonosuke, shouting the whole time that he ‘Didn’t have the guts!!’

  In his ‘Brain Point’, Chopper was the first to recognize how strange the meteor was, and just before transforming with Jump Point, he shouted: “It’s not a meteor!! It’s Sanji!!!”

  This got the entire crews’ attention, and immediately Brook stopped acting like a fool, before turning serious and shouting quickly: “Can you catch him?”

  Getting a nod from Chopper, Nami watched as Brook used his cane and flung Chopper in the direction of the ‘meteor’ and then as Chopper used Guard Point, the skeleton man ran across the top of the water, catching the duo mid-air, and throwing them towards the ship.

  With that done, Brook ran back across the top of the ocean, jumping on board with a serious huff.

  “Is he going to be ok?!” asked Nami, who knew the full extent of the danger they were in and believing that Sanji must had run into Dofmingo for him to be so badly hurt.

  “He’s fine… it’s fine…” answered Chopper slowly, examining Sanji’s wounds.

  “He’s been knocked unconscious, but, besides his nose there’s nothing really wrong with him.”

  Chopper’s answer was both hopeful and frightful to the navigator, who wondered, what in the world could have happened if a monster like Sanji was beaten to the point where he couldn’t even fight back.

  “Luffy….” She whispered to herself, hoping that her friends would all be alright.

  *******************************************************************

  Landing down on Green Bit with Vio in his arms, Bill had a questioning look on his face.

  Why between the giant Marine Battleship that was sticking out of the trees, the mayhem of a half-destroyed beach, the Warlord of the Sea who was in chains, or the fact that Zephyr was ying into Fujitora as a senior would a junior, Bill didn’t know what to make of it!

  For a moment, neither Bill nor Vio moved to interject, and while standing there listening to Zephyr, Bill didn’t think of setting Vio down... and she herself didn’t nudge him to let her down, apparently comfortable staying where she was.

  “… and that’s why I’m telling you that his family’s former status doesn’t matter!!” Zephyr said with a huff of finality and then turned his attention to Bill.

  From what Bill could guess, Zephyr had orchestrated a conflict with the Warlord of the Sea and former Celestial Dragon, but with the presence of Admiral Fujitora he was unsure of what had exactly happened.

  The beach showed a fight, he could see on the tree line dozens of Marines who had fallen back to a safe area – including many of his own crew who were now running over after spotting him – but the damage of the area was nothing like he would expect to see if top-level combatants really went all out.

  When Bill fought Shiki, the battle had destroyed entire ndscapes by proximity.

  Bill wasn’t powerful enough to destroy an isnd with a single punch, but at his – and presumably at Fujitora’s level – causing an isnd to shake and destabilize was a given when he started to fight seriously.

  Even Zephyr could do that for a short period of time if he truly threw caution to the wind and decided to go all out.

  “This isn’t what it looks like, I told you why we came here, and I meant it! But that doesn’t mean I’ll let a criminal go when he comes knocking on my door!!” Zephyr started talking to Bill in a huff before pushing Law hard enough to make him fall over and then turning his eyes to Vio.

  Looking at the woman that Bill was still holding, Zephyr’s eyes reddened and bowing his head he said: “Princess, I’m sorry I failed you and yours… we Marines… sometimes our hands are tied, and for that I beg for your forgiveness.

  I’m sorry it took so long, is your father still with us?”

  Looking at the old Marine - whom she only had a memory of - Vio felt neither hate nor joy over his apology.

  To her, aside from Bill, the Marines were simply the Law Enforcement arm of the World Government.

  Or to be more exact they were the Law Enforcement arm of the cruel and unpredictable Celestial Dragons.

  Sure, most of the time the Marines could be relied on to uphold a level of Justice that made peace possible in the areas they controlled.

  But when a Celestial Dragon was involved?

  Then all bets were off.

  A Marine who did not follow the orders of a Celestial Dragons was not a Marine, they were rebels, no matter the situation. This fact was why she despised them.

  ‘They never hear the voices of the victims that were sacrificed because of them’ she thought bitterly.

  And whether or not he was ‘former’ Celestial Dragon, Dofmingo’s ancestry meant that he was someone that not even the highest ranked Marines could touch lightly.

  This was why Vio didn’t specifically hate Zephyr for not coming to help her father and why she was drawn so quickly to Bill.

  From his memories she knew that Bill embodied the idea of actual justice, and therefore he would come, no matter what he would have come; she knew he would find a way, and that level of determination and responsibility was not something she had found often in her life.

  He had shown as much on Gran Tesoro – though it was a secret only known to two people.

  So accepting Zephyr’s apology for what it was, Vio was let down and nodding as she stood on her own feet answered: “I understand your difficulties…” she lied but continued to speak naturally: “… it’s been hard but he has held out, believing that not all of his friends would abandon him.”

  This made Zephyr wince slightly, and Bill recognized that Vio had said that intentionally.

  Zephyr wasn’t an ungrateful person, Bill figured it probably didn’t sit well with the former Admiral what had happened to King Doldo.

  But at the same time, after Zephyr had lost his family to a revenge attack and then ter watched helplessly as his students were massacred in front of him – and those losses had hardened Zephyr in ways that made him forget things that were once important.

  Bill quietly pledged to himself to never let that happen to him….

  After that verbal jab, Vio continued to talk to Zephyr, and Bill looked around before introducing himself to Admiral: “I’ve heard about you from my father, it’s nice to meet you, Sir.”

  This much was true, Aramaki had talked about Fujitora and had only said good things about him.

  For the politicking that came with selecting an Admiral, where strength was key but not the single most important thing, it spoke volumes that Aramaki would endorse someone completely outside the World Government to jump to Admiral status.

  From what Bill had known there were three serious Admiral candidates, all of whom were a part of different factions within the Marines.

  His father, Aramaki, was in Akainu’s faction and was promoted when Akainu took power despite it being an open secret that he wasn’t quite as powerful as Admiral Akainu or the former Admiral Aokiji.

  The other candidates, Vice Admiral’s Gion and Chaton, who also didn’t quite live up to their predecessors, were also seen as being formerly in Aokiji’s camp.

  Naturally Akainu didn’t want to promote people from a “traitor’s” group, so for either right or wrong, the Vice Admirals were passed over and Akainu brought in someone from the outside.

  For most Marines at Marineford, making a completely unknown person an Admiral just as the Navy was heading into the New World was simply outrageous.

  That was, it was outrageous until they saw Fujitora’s raw power and got a measure of his style of Justice.

  After that, even the most outraged Marines were forced to become quietly discontented because Fujitora did in fact match up to the former Admirals and was seen as a massive new asset.

  None of that affected Bill though. He had his hands full enough with establishing the Neo Marines that whatever the goings-on were at Marineford, as long as it didn’t directly affect his operations, it just wasn’t on his radar to care about it.

  “Vio here should be able to locate her family, after that we’ll go in and pull them out. Once King Doldo is here, he can apprise us on the situation.” Said Bill after talking for a few minutes with Fujitora and realizing that Vio actually had very little to say to Zephyr.

  Looking over at him, Vio gave a nod and putting her hands to her eyes muttered: “Gre!”

  Watching her look into the distance, despite himself, Bill couldn’t help but be amazed by her Devil Fruit ability.

  In addition to reading minds and seeing through walls, she could look at far as 4,000km in any direction!

  Of course, she had to know where to look in order to find something quickly, but to put it into perspective, Bill thought, if Vio was back on Earth, she could have stood in New York City and watched the lights on the Las Vegas Strip.

  Undoubtedly looking through Colosseum, as Vio peeped through walls and masks, Bill told Zephyr and Fujitora: “Besides Law, the Straw Hats are here too. I had a run with Bck Leg Sanji but prioritized the princess’s safety.

  There’s also something very strange with the Toys on this isnd… I have reason to believe they may have been real people.”

  This news made both men flinch back out of surprise, but Bill just continued nonchantly: “I figure first we’ll secure the former royal family, then see where to go from there.”

  Getting a round of acknowledgement, Bill was about to continue when Rapanui finally made his way over, and after acknowledging him, found out that Yoko and roughly 40 Monkey Mink Marines had gone in to chase Trafalgar Law’s prisoner – a person Bill had met years before – the Mad Scientist, Caesar Clown.

  This put him on high alert, but he was quickly relieved to hear that the Mad Clown had been wearing seastone cuffs, making it virtually impossible to escape.

  “Rap, take Akisu and go find them. Tell Yoko to hurry back to the beach and await further orders…” then after watching Rapanui run off, Bill turned to Fujitora and asked: “Admiral, did you want to hold the prisoners or are they fine with being confined on my ship?”

  After confirming that his ship did have the means to securely hold two powerful devil fruit users, Fujitora told Bill to secure both men, and the situation was done.

  Finally, no sooner than ordering Law’s transfer over to the Frontier Run, Vio spoke out loudly: “I found them both!”

  Turning his head over to her quickly, Bill leapt into action, unaware that he wasn’t the only one doing so at that moment...

  *************************************************************************

  “Usond?” asked Yoko to herself as the man with the big nose slowly made his way over.

  Muscur but not particurly impressive, he walked strangely, she thought, almost bow legged, and he didn’t seem to be breathing normally.

  His most stand-out feature was his long nose, reminding Yoko of a story Bill had told her when she was little about a wooden puppet who wanted to be a real boy.

  But more than that story… something else seemed familiar about the man.

  “Hey!” she shouted loudly when he got near enough to talk, but then not letting him respond she continued: “Haven’t I see you before?”

  Watching him closely, Yoko could tell that the man began to look up and around at the 40 Monkey Mink Marines surrounding him and thought she saw him start to sweat…

  But again, before he could say one word he was interrupted, this time by the Green Fairy: “Ewen the Mawines know about our Hewo! We’sh saved!!”

  “Marines are the Heroes, don’t go trusting just anyone to cims to be!!” Yoko snapped at the fairies before sizing ‘Usond’ up again.

  “Tell me, who are you?!” she demanded, and with her tone as it was, the fairies started to get up, but ‘Usond’ quickly calmed them down.

  With a nastily forced smile the man with the long nose said: “I… I… I am the descendant of the great and heroic explorer Mont Bnc Nond!”

  As ‘Usond’ spoke, he became more self-assured, and before he realized it, he had told Yoko that he had come back to fulfill his ancestors’ promise and save the Tontattas from the wicked Dofmingo Family.

  “Our Hewo iz gonnta save ours Prinshesh!” cried out one of the fairies – or rather a ‘Tontatta’ as they called themselves.

  Another called out: “You godda stand at the fwont and lead us!!”

  Followed by a chorus of others chiming in, until the green Tontatta said solemnly: “On the vewy day we vowed to fight back and rescuew our Princessh our Hewo returned. If you a Hewo too,” the Tontatta looked at Yoko, bowed, and yelled: “Help ush, pwease!”

  Already halfway through the green Tontatta speech Yoko was nodding ‘yes’ – while not paying attention that ‘Usond’ began sweating even more – but collecting herself said: “I’ll help save your princess! That’s what Marines are for!! We’re the protectors!!!

  BUT!

  I have to arrest this prisoner, there was another vilin back at the beach – he should be caught by now, but we can’t let either of them go!”

  Unbeknownst to Yoko, a tiny ear had grown on the underside of a giant mushroom, and the when the woman heard that Law may have been caught, it twitched lightly.

  But the Marine kept going: “I’ll send a couple of my people back with this vilin, where he’ll be imprisoned on our ship and never get away, and while they do that…

  I follow you! For Justice!!”

  “Incwedible!!!” cried the Tontatta’s, and Yoko felt good about herself as she sent five Monkey Minks back to the beach with Caesar Clown, and then along with Usond and 35 of her subordinates she followed the Tonatta’s to the flower fields where they had dug tunnels extending underneath Dressrosa Kingdom.